Does Xfinity Need Practice at Superspeedways?

Death, taxes and big wrecks at Daytona International Speedway.

It’s just to be expected when NASCAR comes to this track. But that’s not what ended the NASCAR Xfinity Series race Friday (Aug. 23).

Ryan Truex got the lead in overtime and raced in front of AJ Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman. Shortly after the field took the white flag, Kligerman moved to the bottom lane, and Allmendinger tried to go down in front of him. Contact was made, sending the No. 16 down the track. The caution came out after he came back up into traffic, and Truex took the victory.

Chandler Smith was scored in second with Kligerman just behind in third. Riley Herbst and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top five.

The Winners

Truex earned his second win of the season in only his eighth start. It wasn’t just a fluke, though, as he was near the front for much of the race. He led nearly a third of the event and often positioned himself either in front of or by the duo of Allmendinger and Kligerman. That appeared to be a good strategy, as the Nos. 16 and 48 worked well together and were fast throughout the whole race.

The younger brother of Martin Truex Jr. now has three Xfinity Series victories in his career — two at Dover Motor Speedway and one at the World Center of Racing. It’s also win number six for the No. 20 car that’s featured five different drivers at the wheel. I’m not sure exactly what to compare this kind of success to regarding All-Star teams, aside from maybe Kyle Busch Motorsports’ truck that had multiple drivers (when it was still around).

While it wasn’t a win for Kligerman and Big Machine Racing, the team still had a good and much-needed points day, finishing fifth and sixth in stages one and two, respectively. See, earlier this week he was penalized big time for an infraction pertaining to the rear spoiler. Kligerman and the team lost 20 driver and owner points as well as five playoff points.

That’s huge for a driver who’s still trying to hang on to one of the last playoff spots, which makes Daytona that much more meaningful and important in his quest for the playoffs.

Herbst had an issue on pit road when his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer left his stall just after Herbst. Custer made contact with the No. 98, which set the No. 00 back.

But Herbst continued on and in the end he earned another top five, his fifth of the year and second in the last three races. He’s already locked into the playoffs with…